(1) Field of the Invention
The object of the invention is a device in the form of a portable studio intended for item photography, particularly for small items, for example watches, jewelry.
(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
There is a number of known small, portable devices imitating the lighting conditions of large photographic studios and intended for the photography of small objects. There are known simple devices in the form of an incompletely closed space delimited by interconnected walls, as is the case in the descriptions of inventions U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,455, U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,561, U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,085, FR2637391, FR2946158, JP2008065241, CN2914140, JP2004145023.
There are known devices in the form of containers. One of them is a small container for photographing described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,662, provided with an integral lighting system with three semitransparent and light-reflecting surfaces. These surfaces form the walls of the container and one of them has a bottom wall connected to the back wall. The photographed object may be illuminated in a controlled manner. It is usually illuminated from the bottom, with the lateral and upper walls dispersing and reflecting the light. This type of construction of the devices results from the fact that controlled and dispersed light contained in a delimited and small volume improves the visibility of the item, especially one with polished surfaces. Photographing such items in daylight or in studio lighting is not preferable due to the variable lighting conditions and visible reflections of objects present within the range of the light—especially on the surface of polished items.
Visual control of the quality of surface and colors of finished items was ensured by the device known from the description of the invention U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,415, developed in the form of a half-cylinder with lighting distributed in the upper part and with door for placing the polished item under examination, for example a drill bit. Similar devices are also known and described in GB2487086, PL329419, JPH11 109460, JPH09288296, JP2006323168. One advantage of this type of devices is the impossibility to introduce reflections from the objects or colors of the surroundings onto the polished surfaces of the item being photographed or controlled. The only inconvenience is the image of the reflection of the camera lens but, with the miniaturization of contemporary lenses, it is a feature of little significance.
Another advantage of such devices is the possibility to freely rotate the item on a movable base—a table. This also allows for creation of moving animations. An object of numerous documentations of devices with rotating plates are the inventions US2010/0128462 with LED lighting of the rotating table, U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,124 in which the possibility to introduce a background has been provided, and the photographic camera is a separate element, and photographing takes place via an opening in the housing, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,659, US2007172216, JP2000035607 with very limited capabilities with respect to moving the photographic camera in a long and protruding tube, CN202330966 or GB2492111. The last one of them comprises a rotating table in the shape of the letter L with rows of numerous linear light sources distributed at the back.
Competitive solutions are also known, for example the solution of MK Digital which allows for illumination of an item from each side but, due to the fixed location of the camera, enables to photograph objects only from the front and from the top.
The solutions described above either provide so-called shadowless illumination around the photographed item, which makes it impossible to freely move the camera to any place, or enable to move the camera but do not allow for changing the illumination. The solutions which favor moving the photographic camera on a plane within a 90 degree angle comprise an insufficiently illuminated stripe along the way of camera movement and two light zones on either side of the camera. Such lighting system or non-uniform illuminating planes cause visible reflections on the surface of the item.